A US judge has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million for failing to adequately warn the public about the risks its social media platforms pose to children, taking the total penalties against the company in the New Mexico case to $942 million, the BBC reported.
Judge Bryan Biedscheid ruled on Thursday that Meta’s platforms constitute a “public nuisance”, comparing the company to a factory whose products generate widespread social harm. He directed the social media giant to create a fund to help reduce future harm to children.
The latest order comes on top of an earlier $375 million penalty imposed in the same case. According to the BBC, the ruling is the largest financial penalty against Meta over child safety issues and is believed to be the first time a social media company has been declared a public nuisance by a US court.
The lawsuit, filed by the State of New Mexico in 2023, alleged that Meta’s recommendation algorithms exposed children to sexually explicit content and contact with sexual predators. During the first phase of the trial, the court found that the company had repeatedly violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act by steering young users towards harmful content.
Judge Biedscheid said the harm caused by Meta’s platforms extends beyond the internet and places a broader burden on children, families, schools, hospitals and law enforcement. He ordered that $420 million from the new fund be used to finance treatment programmes and behavioural health services for affected children, while the remaining amount will support awareness campaigns and training for teachers and healthcare professionals.
The court also directed Meta to introduce a series of child safety measures, including preventing adult users from messaging minors or receiving recommendations for accounts belonging to users under 18, blocking the exchange of nude images involving minors, introducing a one-strike policy against adults involved in child sexual exploitation, removing “like” counts for users under 18, restricting push notifications during night-time and school hours, and limiting minors to 90 hours of combined monthly use across Facebook and Instagram.
Meta said it disagreed with the ruling and would appeal. In a statement quoted by the BBC, the company said it remains committed to protecting young users and argued that the judgment misrepresents its efforts to identify and remove harmful content.
According to the BBC, Meta also faces thousands of similar lawsuits across the United States, with another major child privacy trial due to begin in California next week involving attorneys general from nearly three dozen states.
